Hush or You'll Let the Aster Out
by apprenticecole
Summary: A normal day at Gotham Academy goes amuck when a gang attacks! Robin and Artemis respond to the problem. Mainly action but has overtones of DickBabs in the whole thing. Rated T for school violence


**This is just a little thing I thought up for my friend Megan, it's not very romance actiony but I hope you all enjoy it.**

**Dedicated to Megan - I love you Sibby baby**

It was just like any other school day. I had gotten up at Alfred's urging and got ready for school. I slipped into the freshly starched suit that Gotham Academy had as a uniform, rolling my eyes at its grandeur. My footsteps echoed as I ran through the near empty mansion.

"You know Alfred, it's probably unhealthy for me to not get a good sleep after kicking cans all day and night." I yawned.

"Well, Master Dick, I suppose you could hang up your cape." Alfred retorted with a smile, waving me into one of the dining rooms.

"Fat chance! I was thinking I could give up the whole school thing." I said, winking at the old butler.

"Absolutely not. Now stop talking and start eating. You must leave to attend school shortly." He said calmly as he disappeared from the room.

I chuckled as I sat to eat breakfast. The usual of course; a stuffed omelet, orange juice, bacon, sausage and toast. What can I say? I need to eat well when I can. Once I had finished Alfred came back and ushered me outside to the car.

"The big guy isn't taking me?" I asked, trying to hide my disappointment.

"He had just as busy of a night as you did Master Dick." He reminded me.

"Yea? Well I'm already up and ready." I sighed.

"You're quite younger than he is. And you have learning to do." Alfred said calmly, but sympathetically.

The ride to the Academy was relatively silent. I tried to sneak a few z's away from Alfred but the old man's pretty attentive. Oh well, I tried. I leaned back in my seat and stared at the trees as we passed by. Things seemed to be at peace in the Gotham lately, something that I knew meant trouble. Sure there was thug activity, but nothing supervillainy. I could smell the storm in the air. I almost drifted off to sleep when Alfred tapped the brakes hard before stopping.

"We're here, Master Dick." Alfred said, trying to hide his chuckles.

"Gee, thanks Alfred." I said groggily, stepping out of the car.

"Have a nice day, and don't forget to tell Barbara hello for me!" Alfred said as he drove away.

I rubbed my eyes as I walked up the steps to the towering building before me. I yawned as I entered the courtyard, ready for another useless boring school day.

"Dick! Over here!" I heard a voice call out.

I turned to see Babs waving at me, a large grin on her gleaming face. Ok, maybe the school day wouldn't be completely useless. I returned her grin and jogged over to her.

"Hey, you miss me?" I said smoothly, raising my eyebrows.

"Yea, you and your big head." She teased.

I rolled my eyes at her, giving her a playful push. She glared at me.

"Don't you know you aren't supposed to touch a lady?" she said icily, looking away with a smirk.

"Well, I didn't know I was in the presence of a lady!" I said, whispering it right into her ear.

She turned around and I ran away from her. She chased me, but I knew she catch me. I'm Robin after all. I turned to see her, and she had disappeared. I stopped and looked around, knowing she wouldn't have given up. I felt someone's breath on my neck and a chill ran down my spine.

"Gotcha!" Babs whispered on the back of my neck.

My ears burned red and frustration rippled through me. How could this have happened? Batman would kill me! I stormed away, arms crossed.

"Hey! You're the one who started it!" Babs called, following me.

"I know. It's nothing." I said through my teeth.

"What's wrong?" she asked forcefully.

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

"Bruce would be disappointed." I said to myself sadly.

"Wow. Is he that shallow that he doesn't think women should be able to beat men?" Babs huffed.

The bell rang and I rushed off to class, leaving Babs to run the other way. I dropped myself into a seat and sighed. Study hall my first period. And now I'm gonna spend it sulking over the fact that Babs snuck up on me. I slouched in my chair, hating myself for the way I treated her after it. I was overreacting. But I had to be better. I threw myself forward and rested my head on my arms.

'_Whatever, I'll just nap it off. I'll apologize later._' I sighed.

I fell asleep with no Alfred to protest. It was a peaceful sleep, the kind with no dreams. I started to stir when I heard a pop and smelled something thick in the air. I blinked a few times and I heard the sound of glass shatter and a few people scream. I jumped to my feet and glanced around the room. The room was full of smoke and everyone was running from the room. I ducked behind a bookcase and took a few deep breaths.

'_Seriously? A school?_' I thought as I pulled my utility belt out of my uniform, clipping it around my shoulder. I grabbed my spare domino mask from it and put it on.

The smoke was starting to disburse when I peaked from around my cover. A few armed men held a few students and my teacher at gunpoint in one corner of the room.

"Seriously? The boss couldn't have let us do this later in the day? I'm exhausted!" one of them complained.

'_Early to villain, early to hero!_' I thought as I slowly and carefully climbed the bookshelf.

I perched myself at the top and looked for the best way to take them down without harming the civilians. The shelf creaked as I repositioned. My eyes went wide as the guards turned their guns at me.

I threw a few smoke pellets at the ground while I dropped to the ground. I did a somersault and kicked out the legs of the first 2 henchmen. I slinked through the smoke, trying to locate the last one. The smoke dissipated and the last one was nowhere to be seen.

"Lock the door and cover the window." I whispered to the teacher as I tied up the 2 I had take down.

She nodded as I snuck out of the room. The hallways were empty and dimly lit. The power lines must have been cut and the backup power seemed feeble.

"Robin to Batman, situation red at Gotham Academy." I said after slipping my communicator into my ear.

There was silence on the other end. Of course. He gets to sleep in and I get to deal with this. I repeated the message to Alfred and ran down the hall to a bathroom. I found the door locked and I used a pick to jimmy the lock open. I locked it again behind me and scanned the ceiling. Bingo. An air vent, superhero trick #1. I climbed in and crawled through the space, peaking into the different classrooms and offices, I couldn't see anyone in any of them. When I reached the other end of the school I heard thudding come from the other end of the vent.

I panicked and tried to slide back but it was too late. A figure in a Academy uniform crawled from around the corner. She jumped back, but held in the scream. I hoped it was Babs but then I saw the green facemask and a crossbow.

"Artemis?" I questioned.

"Robin?!" she exclaimed quietly.

"Funny that you'd be here." I said half teasingly, half sourly.

"Oh. Um. I was in the area when I saw what was happening." Artemis retorted nervously.

"Whatever. Listen, have you seen any other people? Or a red head girl who looks like a freshman?" I asked nervously.

"I saved a room of kids back there. I heard the men say that they were gathering everyone in the gym and were going to try to round up the stragglers." She reported. I was the leader when Aqualad wasn't around after all.

"What're we waiting for? I gotta save Barbara!" I said desperately.

I led the way through the vents, trying to stop picturing the scared Babs trying to not get caught. Even worse I tried to stop the thoughts of her being dead. These things could go south at any time and end in disaster.

"Keep the aster in, Robin." I whispered to myself, chewing on my bottom lip.

We reached the gym and I scanned for Babs. The whole room was full of groups of students separated from the teachers. The bleachers had been pushed back and armed men surrounded the groups and a small group of men surrounded one man. I pulled out my binoculars from my belt and took a closer look.

The man was bandaging himself up, starting to look like a mummy. Once he was covered in bandages he put a trench coat on.

"It's Hush!" I gasped.

"Who's that?" Artemis asked dully.

"Someone whose got a serious grudge on the elite of Gotham and a constant enemy of Batman. He's a genius, surgeon, and well trained fighter." I explained through my teeth, still scanning the room for Babs.

"So what's the plan?" Artemis asked nervously.

"Quiet! I'm looking for Babs! I mean….I'm thinking." I said, annoyed.

I finally found her. She looked more angry than scared. It was her spirit that I loved; she was staring danger in the face. I thought of a plan to get to her while saving the rest of the school.

"Ok Artemis. Shoot a bunch of smoke arrows down there and I'll throw some pellets. Then I'll drop down and knock some of them out and you'll shoot flash bang arrows and then join me in kicking can. It'll be a piece of cake." I smirked.

Artemis nodded and loaded her crossbow. I made a note to ask her where she kept all her arrows later. After she shot her arrows I kicked out the plate over the vent and dropped down, throwing smoke pellets. I landed on a henchman and I turned and kicked the one beside him. I ran toward the group to my left and used my grapple hook to disarm a few of the men before taking them down. Flashes erupted around me and after a few seconds they stopped. The smoke dissipated but the guards were all stunned, holding their eyes. I turned and saw Artemis taking out more of the men, clearing the gym.

I started to run toward the group that was keeping Babs hostage when I felt the zip of a bullet pass by my head. I skidded to a stop and turned around. Hush had a pistol aimed at me and another aimed at Artemis.

"Interesting to see the Boy Wonder without his cape." He taunted. I could feel a monologue coming on.

"Well, I admit you aren't catching me at an opportune moment." I said as chalantly as I could.

"I thought I'd have the perfect hostages with the richest children in Gotham, but the Bat Brat is just as well. Where is daddy Bat? I wouldn't think he'd let his sidekick out all alone." Hush said, muffled by the bandages.

"I'm not a sidekick!" I yelled, opening a pouch on my belt allowing a few pellets to fall.

I was in the smoke once again. I threw a Birdarang at Hush, causing him to drop his pistol. I ran forward and kicked out his knee, causing him to drop. I uppercut his head and brought my elbow onto his back, incapacitating him. I tied his arms behind him to secure him.

'_Now back to Babs!_' I thought.

I backflipped and turned around, just in time to see her sitting on one of the men.

"Did you…?" I said, the question not exactly leaving my lips.

"What? Haven't seen a girl fight crime before?" she teased.

I blushed and looked at Artemis, and she shrugged. We nodded at the teachers and then Batman crashed through the ceiling.

"Kind of dramatic don't you think?" I asked coolly, still disappointed that he didn't take me to school today himself.

"Get out of here. I'll handle this." He said darkly to both of us.

We nodded and ran out of the gym. Artemis and I ran our separate ways to the opposite ends of the school. I wondered if she'd ever figure out my secret ID.

I ran into the bathroom and put my stuff away in my uniform. I waited until an announcement came across the PA saying school was cancelled for the day.

I walked back out to the courtyard and found myself scanning once again for Babs. I saw her and immediately ran to her.

"Babs are you ok!" I yelled, grabbing her into a hug.

"Whoa Dick! Yes I'm fine! Where were you?! I was so worried!" she said, tears in her eyes as she returned the hug.

"I was hiding in the bathroom! I wasn't sure what was going on. But I heard you took out a bunch of the guys." I smirked as I held her.

"Psh. Whatever. Sure you did. I was ducking and covering like everyone else." She blew off the comment, but I made a note to tell Batman of her potential later.

"I was so worried about you." I said, staring into her eyes.

Her eyes grew wide and she blushed. I smiled at her, staring into her eyes. The relief was overpowering. Then all of a sudden it happened. We were kissing right there for all to see. And there was nothing else I could ask for.


End file.
